F 1783 
.D26 






Copy 1 SPEECH V 



OF 



-/ 



HON. EEUBEN DAVIS, 

OF MISSISSIPPI, 



ON 



HIS RESOLUTION 



FOE THE 



ACQUISITIOI ofcftjBA 



DELIVEBED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

JAFfTARY 81, 1859. 



< ♦ > 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY LEMUEL TOWERS. 

1859. 



6767 



/V. 



n,/ 



SPEECH 



OF 



HON. REUBEN DAYIS, OF MISSISSIPPI, 



ON HIS RESOLUTION FOE 



THE ACQUISITION OF CUBA. 



DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 31, 1859. 



The House being in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and 
having under consideration the President's Annual Message— Mr. REUBEN 
DAVIS said: 

Mr. Chairman: Several weeks ago I offered to this House 
a resolution which made it the duty of the President to take 
possession of the Island of Cuba, and retain it until certain 
debts due to us from Spain were paid, and certain unsettled 
causes of complaint were adjusted by her. 

This Island is the property of Spain, and, like the private 
property of her citizens, is the subject of reprisals. This reso- 
lution is not a declaration of war against Spain ; it does not 
even approximate war by beirg general; it has the technical 
restriction of speciality. The resolution is restricted and limit- 
ed to a specific article, and that the property of the Govern- 
ment of Spain, and not her citizens. This, as a national right, 
has never been denied in any age of the world, and has never 
been regarded as amounting to a declaration of war. It is 
regarded as a species of retaliation ; and is the only mode, 
short of war, to which a nation can resort to coerce justice. 

By the law of nations you may make reprisals, not only 
for the acts of the sovereign, but also for those of his subjects. 
The causes of complaint against Spain, for the redress of which 
I propose this remedy, are the acts of the Government itself, 
and not her private citizens; and are, therefore, the more ag- 
gravated. Should we take possession of the Island, we simply 
retain it until negotiation accommodates all causes of com- 
plaint between the two governments, in which, of course, will 
be embraced the expense to this Government of seizing the 
Island. I confess, sir, Spain may make it the cause of war, 
but if she does it will be her act, and she will be responsible 



for the consequences. This resolution only proposes to do 
unto her as she has done to us. She has taken our property, 
and I propose to apply to her the rule lex talioms. # 

Mr. Chairman, my resolution proposes to apply to Spam 
the mildest remedy allowed us by the law of nations, after 
the failure of negotiation. Has negotiation failed * 1 insist 
that it has. The debt of one hundred and twenty-eight thous- 
and six hundred and thirty-five dollars and fifty-four cents has 
been ascertained by negotiation, and a promise to pay it has 
been made by Spain. More than four years have elapsed since 
that promise, and now she proposes to pay us the sum of torty- 
two thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight dollars and 
forty-one 1 cents, without interest, and this as a "special tavor. 
This claim has passed beyond the limits and objects ot nego- 
tiation, and, consequently, must be controlled by some other 
iurisdiction. It is now the subject of the direct action of the 
Government through Congress. What can we do with it un- 
der the authority of the law of nations? We can make re- 
prisals, or we can make it the cause of war. Reprisals being 
authorised by the law of nations, and peaceful in its nature, 
I 'have proposed it rather than war. But, sir, we may; use 
this remedy, being peaceful, for another object— that is to 
hasten negotiation. The President says: 

"Spanish officials, under the direct control of the Captain General of Cuba, 
have insulted our national flag, and in repeated instances have, from time to 
time, inflicted injuries on the persons and property of our cihzens. These have 
given birth to numerous claims against the Spanish government, the merits of 
which have been ably discussed for a serious of years by our successive diplo- 
matic representatives. Notwithstanding this, we have not arrived at a practical 
result in any single instance, unless we may except the case under the late Ad- 
ministration ; and that presented an outrage of such a character as would have 
iustified an immediate resort to war. All our attempts to obtain redress have 
b<*n baffled and defeated. The frequent and oft-recurring changes in the 
Spanish Ministry have been employed as a reason for delay. 

Now, sir, the law of nations makes delay produced by pre- 
tences as much the cause for reprisals and war as a positive 
denial. In this latter class of grievances the law proceeds 
upon the doctrine of lex talionis, and authorizes us to take 
as much of the property of the Spanish Government as they 
have of ours, and retain it until diplomacy ends the contro- 
versy. It is used as a means of hastening the settlement of 
grievances. The law of nations require that before you 
make reprisals notice shall be given; and, that I might keep 
my resolution within its requirements, it directed that six 
months' notice shall be given, and this I think is quite enough. 

Now, sir, it will be seen at once that I do not propose or 
desire war with Spain, but only intend that the President shall 
be authorized and required to resort to the only remedy af- 
forded by the law of nations to obtain for our people justice 



for injuries done to them and their property. This right 
we cannot withhold from them. To enforce their rightful 
claims against other nations is a duty due to our people, and 
it grows out of the reciprocal 1 relations of protection and alle- 
giance. I admit that a graver proposition was never sub- 
mitted to the deliberation of a national council than war, and 
cannot be ; yet the wisdom of ages has sustained it as a neces- 
sary evil," and has recommendecl it even as the best guarantee 
of national immunity, and the only means for the preserva- 
tion of national honor. We might well exercise it instantly, 
because we have ample cause for it, and the reason I did not 
recommend it was, we had still left the peaceful remedy I 
have proposed. 

The law of nations give two causes for offensive war ; both 
of which exist in our favor in our relations with Spain ; and 
if we were to-day to declare it, we would be sustained by 
the moral sentiment of mankind. The propriety of the exer- 
cise of this right is fully understood by both England and 
France, as their past history shows, and I hesitate not to give 
it as my deliberate opinion that, for half the cause of com- 
plaint we have against Spain, either of these nations would 
make war at once, instead of resorting to the peaceful 
remedy proposed by the resolution. The rule is : 

"The right of employing force or making "war, belongs to nations no farther- 
than is necessary for their own defence, and for the maintenance of their rights. 
Now, if any one attacks a nation, or violates her property rights, he does her 
an injury. Then, and not till then, has she a right to repel the aggressor, and 
reduce him to reason. Further, she has the right to repel the injury when she 
suspects herself threatened with it." 

Further, "the life of government is like that of men. The latter has the 
right to kill in case of natural defence ; the former has the right to wage war 
for their own preservation." 

The law of nations point out three objects of lawful war. 
Two only of which will I consider in my argument to-day ; 
both of which I shall be able by the testimony to show the 
existence of. 
The first cause is, "to recover what belongs, or is due to us." 
ISTow, sir, the first evidence I shall offer in support of this 
legal rule, is, the debt of one hundred and twenty-eight thou- 
sand six hundred and thirty -five dollars and fifty -four cents. 
It can hardly be necessary for me to show that it is founded 
in justice. It originated in the unjust and unlawful exac- 
tions of duties from American vessels at different custom- 
houses in Cuba as early as 1844. It is money forced from 
our citizens by the hand of arbitrary power, and is exactly in 
the nature of the forced loans of Mexico of recent date, and 
which received the condemnation of this country as well as 
that of every nation of Europe. Spain so considered it, and. 



after interposing for ten years her usual means of delay in 
negotiation, acknowledged herself indebted to the United 
States this amount, and yet she ,permits it to remain unpaid. 
Then, according to the rule which Thave asseited, it is a just 
cause of offensive war. My resolution, however, proposes the 
more peaceful remedy — reprisals. 

Mr. Chairman, this act of official wrong might be over- 
looked for a long time if it stood alone ; but, sir, it is much the 
most unimportant of the many grievances inflicted upon our 
citizens by the officials of Spain, and which belong to the 
class of cases embraced in this cause of offensive war. 

In the year 1850, two vessels, belonging to the citizens of 
the United States, with regular clearances from the port of 
!New Orleans, and with the American flag floating at their 
masts, were seized off the Island of Contoy, within the juris- 
diction of Mexico, with a large number of American citizens, 
by the Pizzaro and Habanosa, and taken into Havana. These 
citizens were manacled — irons were put upon their manly 
limbs — the galling chains of despotism hung heavily upon 
their forms — they were deprived of their property — insult 
was offered to their feelings, and the lash was inflicted upon 
their persons. They announced that they were American 
citizens, and were derided, and the name of their country in- 
sulted. They pointed to the American flag, and it was torn 
from the mast. This news came home to our people, and their 
wounded pride rose like a mighty wind, increasing in violence 
as it swept from the Mississippi over the continent to Maine. 
Your President demanded their instant release with threats 
of war, and it was unheeded; and the subject was ultimately 
delivered up to diplomacy, and there it lingers. 

Mr. Chairman, I have not time in the hour allowed me to 
enter into an argument to show this act of Spain to be a fla- 
grant violation of the law of nations, and a most extraordinary 
and contemptuous disregard of the honor and rights of this 
nation. It is enough to say Spain went beyond her jurisdic- 
tion and entered the dominion of Mexico, seized our citi- 
zens, took possession of their property, arraigned them before 
their own tribunals, found them guiltless of crime, and many 
of them were discharged, and that in defiance of the solemn 
protest of this government, and to this day, have made no 
reparation to these injured citizens, no atonement for the in- 
sult offered to our flag. Well might the Captain of the Susan 
Laud have said, " if General Jackson had been President, it 
would not have been allowed." President Taylorsent a special 
messenger to Havana to demand their release. To this de- 
mand, replied, that he, [the Captain General of Cuba] had 
no diplomatic functions, and referred him to Mr. Calderon 



De La Barca, Resident Minister of Spain at Washington, who 
referred the whole subject to Madrid. Yet the trial pro- 
ceeded; many of those citizens, as I have said, were discharged, 
and others condemned and sent to Spain in irons. The ves- 
sels, Susan Laud and Georgiana, were condemned and sold ; 
and still our demands were disregarded — negotiation lingers — 
and, to this day, Spain justifies the act, and declares her in- 
tention to repeat it if occasion demands. But, sir, this unpar- 
alleled act of insolence, intended, as it was, to wound the 
pride of the nation, and degrade us in the estimation of the 
world, was not enough. Afterwards, the Ohio, a mail steamer, 
was ordered from her moorings to unsafe and hazardous 
anchorage under the guns of the Moro Castle, or to leave the 
harbor without landing her mails. The Falcon was fired 
into and boarded upon the high seas. The Philadelphia, with 
the United States mails, entered the harbor in distress, desti- 
tute of coal and provisions, many of her passengers sick 
and was peremptorily driven from her anchorage. The 
Crescent City, in the mail service of the United States, and 
under the command of a Naval officer, was refused the 
privilege to land for no other reason than that an American 
citizen was on board, who had, in a newspaper article, criticised 
the conduct of the Captain General of the Island, and all this 
was done in violation of treaty. I will not continue the fur- 
ther long lists of petty annoyances which have been done us, 
and are still being done. It is enough to say our nation alone 
has the humility to endure them. 

Now, sir, are these not profound causes of complaint on 
our part against Spain, and should not the injuries done to 
our citizens be compensated for? And what compensation 
should not be demanded for the citizens whose persons were 
lacerated by the ignominious lash ? Millions should be de- 
manded — not that millions can blot from the recollection the 
degradation endured — but to teach despotism how exalted 
in the scale of human nature is the freeman of this coun- 
try, and how sacred is his person. Is not the value of 
the property taken and confiscated a just claim against 
the Spanish Government, and shall we not require it to 
be paid ? I apprehend there is not a man upon this floor,, 
with an American impulse in his heart, who does not 
affirmatively declare in favor of the justness of these claims. 
And, yet, the President informs us that negotiation is de- 
layed by subterfuges. The reprisals I propose will stimu- 
late this negotiation and hasten its maturity. It is especially 
important that the question of international law, asserted 
by Spain and denied by this country, but which Spain 
declares she will not surrender, viz : the right to enter the 



8 



jurisdiction of Mexico and arrest American citizens on board 
American vessels, over which is floating the stars and stripes, 
and take them to her own ports and arraign them before her 
own tribunals, upon imaginary charges of high crimes and 
misdemeanors, against the protest of this country, should 
be settled. Our Government denies this as a right exist- 
ing by the law of nations, and we must coerce its sur- 
render by Spain, because on its surrender depends the 
right of our citizens to indemnity for injury sustained already, 
and ourpeople and flag to security in the future. 

Mr. Cnairman, these are the most unimportant reasons 
to be given in justification of the resolution ; they afford 
ample cause for the seizure, it is true, and would induce 
any of the first class Powers of Europe to do it ; but with 
me there is a paramount consideration, higher in import- 
ance, higher in nationality, than those I have presented — 
it is the right of self-preservation. Wars are like epidemics, 
they come unexspectedly, often without real cause. When- 
ever it is necessary in any of the European States to divert 
the attention of the nation from internal causes of complaint, 
foreign war is universally induced, and the nation least pre- 
pared is selected. We know that since the unnatural and 
strange alliance between England and France, by which Eng- 
land is to furnish money and counsel, and France food for 
powder, they have been committing depredations on who- 
soever they please ; and, since the small demonstration they 
made in co-partnership against Russia, their attention has 
been turned to affairs on this Continent, in direct violation of 
the Monroe doctrines, and in a form so aggravated as to 
threaten an early rupture with this Government. Should such 
a contingency arise, Spain will become a tripartite party. 
But should she not, she will at least give her aid so far as to 
permit the use of the Island of Cuba as a naval and military 
depot to our enemies. Let me examine the subject in this 
aspect, and see if the ownership of the Island is not necessary 
as a means of national preservation. 

What is the geographical position of the Island of Cuba in 
its relation to the United States, Mexico, and Central Amer- 
ica? Its position is between latitude 19° 50' and 23° 9' north, 
and 74° 8' and 84° 58' west, about sixty-five miles from 
Key West, Florida, and about one hundred and twenty from 
the point of Yucatan, and is the key to the mouth of the 
Gulf of Mexico — that great inland sea bordering the States 
of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, 
and Central America. This Island commands all these States. 
The commerce of all has its advent to the Atlantic ocean 
directly under the guns of the Moro Castle. This Island, in 



9 

the possession of an enemy, they coulcl readily reach any given 
point along this whole coast, giving an irresistible advantage 
to them. Neither the United States or Mexico could ever 
maintain a navy on their waters, or use it for commercial 
purposes ; ships could not pass from the Atlantic to the Gulf; 
armies could not be transported by sea from' the northern to the 
southern States, and vice versa. In a contest with any Euro- 
pean State it would become a point, d'appui, most fatal to the 
United States or Mexico. It is a great fortification of itself, 
commanding many thousand miles of sea-coast in which this 
country is immediately interested. To our security and 
safety, therefore, it is most important. 

We have recently reasserted the Monroe doctrine in a great 
variety of forms, and have declared our determination in the 
most solemn manner to enforce its observance by the Powers 
of Europe, even at the hazard of war. Yet, notwithstanding 
this assertion, it is known to us all that both England and 
France are negotiating with the Central American States, 
under circumstances and in a manner that should excite our 
vigilance. We know that Central American affairs are be- 
coming daily more and more complicated, and that both 
England and France are acquiring interests there which are 
giving to them a controlling influence ; and which, if success- 
ful, must inflict upon this country inconveniences and inju- 
ries which no human calculation can estimate— influences 
directly m conflict with the Monroe doctrine. Shall this be 
prevented ? We have said so. How is it to be done ? Ee- 
monstrance we know will avail us nothing-; and I predict that 
war will result from it at no distant day. If it should, the 
Island becomes of essential importance to each of the bel- 
ligerents, and will fall into the hands of our enemies. With 
the possession of this Island England or France would be in 
immediate proximity to the whole coast of Mexico, and would 
command that of Central America. With the advantage of 
their large navy we would be shut out from those States, and 
would not be able to send an army into the Gulf to either 
of them, and they would, almost without a struggle, seize 
and occupy the whole of both those countries. But, sir, with 
the use of the Island of Cuba as a naval and military depot, 
other and more important disadvantages would result to 
us. That war, of course, would become .general, and Eng- 
land would not limit it to the Atlantic slope, and to regions 
beyond our borders, she would extend it to our defenceless 
southern cities and Gulf coasts, as well as to our possessions 
on the Pacific Ocean. With the possession of the harbor at 
Havana, and the Moro Castle, troops could not be sent from 
the northern and middle Atlantic States, by sea, for the de- 



fence of the Gulf States, nor could your naval forces enter 
the Gulf of Mexico to engage the British vessels which would 
be at liberty to desolate and despoil our possessions along our 
whole line of coast. More than this, we would be utterly 
unable to afford to our possessions on the Pacific any military 
assistance from the older States— assistance to which they are 
entitled, and which is due to them by the highest obligations 
of protection. We would not be able to send to the aid of 
California an army from the southern and western States, 
for the reason that the vigilance of the British fleet at Havana 
could not be escaped — in fact our fleet with soldiers on board, 
would be compelled to pass almost within range of the guns 
of the Moro— and then they would from that point success- 
fully intercept any army from our northern ports, and thus it 
would be impossible to defend ourselves on the Pacific. 

In this aspect it will be seen that no country on earth 
has the same amount of land on its borders so important to it 
as the Island of Cuba is to us. As a means of defence from 
a foreign foe, or for national preservation, it is indispensable. 
But with this Island in our possession, how would the case 
stand? It would become a mighty fortification far out at 
sea, which, of itself, would give protection to many hundred 
miles of our coast. Here we could concentrate armies and 
navies with which to strike an enemy, north or south. We 
would have the command of the whole coast of Mexico and 
Central America — could pass armies composed of the gallant 
men of the western and southern States, without molestation 
to Tehuante Panama, to the transit route, for the de- 

fence of California or the vindication of the Monroe doctrine. 
Armies c ■ >f men who have permitted no battle-field 

at home or abroad, to be dimmed by defeat, but who have 
always given additional lustre to the glory of our arms, by 
achievinents honorable to themselves and their country. The 
posse- I" it w< mid afford a guarantee of perpetual peace to 

this country, while it is now the irritating cause of constant 
complaint ami threatened war. It would remove the cause 
of quarrel with Spain, and would effectually prevent any in- 
terference by European states with affairs upon this continent. 
Sir, shall we do an act so entirely sanctioned by the law of 
nations, and so necessary to our future security and peace, or 
slumber upon our duty until England, or France, or both to- 
gether, shall have consummated their schemes of ambition, 
with the opportunity to avail themselves of the advantages 
which I have enumerated? Every consideration of sound 
national policy forbids it. 

I think now, Mr. Chairman, I have shown not only that it is 
the right, but the duty of this Government to take this Island. 



11 



It is necessary for our quiet and our preservation as a nation, 
and has tne sanction of the law of self-defence. It is hardly 
necessary to say it is the only mode of acquisition. No sen- 
sible man believes it can ever be purchased ;. nor can any 
one hope that more causes, or greater, will ever exist for tak- 
ing it by force. It may produce war, which is always to be 
deplored, but we will never be better prepared for such a 
contingency. There never will be a time in our future his- 
tory when it will be less injurious or less aggravated/ At 
present neither England or France is in a condition to inter- 
fere, and they would not. The military energies of England 
are now absorbed at home, and her commercial dependence 
upon lis forbids a rupture at this time. Eevolutions are going; 
on in Europe for the readjustment of the balance of power, 
and their armfes ( cannot be spared for such a contest as this! 
.tmt, under any circumstances, we have no other remedy. Di- 
plomacy has been exhausted, and we have nothing left but 
the arm of national power to coerce justice. 

Mr. Chairman, we have either to abandon this large debt 
which has been acknowledged by Spain to be due our citizens, 
or proceed to collect it by seizing her possessions. Abandon 
it, and the radiant glory which now adorns our national 
escutcheon must fade into darkness. But, sir, it will not be 
abandoned. The pride of our people will not permit it. 
With scorn they will retire from seats on this floor, the men 
who would dare propose it, and supply their places with rep- 
resentatives of their own high resolves, willing to vindicate 
their rights and protect the honor of the nation, even at the 
hazard of war. We have passed the period when timid 
councils are to prevail. This nation has a destiny, and it 
must be fulfilled. The compulsive force of irresistible causes 
will force us on to its consummation, even against the incli- 
nation of the timid. Our vessel of state rides upon a tide 
swollen and even enraged by mighty events, and no anchor 
can stay it ; and in its course all we can do is to gfeide it by 
prudent councils as it floats on to its legitimate destination. 

It is objected that we are already sufficiently expanded. If 
this position be correct, then we are already too much ex- 
panded. All Europe is, to-day, not equal to us in extent. I 
know the ablest writers on the theory of government hold 
that Eepublics should have a small territory— that in a large 
one the pride of the ambitious— the conflict of interests and 
pursuits, will soon sap it. This theory has been shown by the 
example of our own country to be incorrect ; it is, perhaps, 
owing to the fact that we have many States, with full legis- 
lative powers, while those of the Federal Government are few 
and well guarded. But this very argument should convince 



n 

our people of the propriety of refusing to the Federal Govern- 
ment the exercise of power to legislate or to interfere with 
domestic matters. If the day shall ever come when the Fed- 
eral Government assumes general legislation, it must at once 
go down. People have, in all ages, rebelled when oppressed, 
and that is now the predominant trait in our people. The 
Congress of the United States can pass no general law that 
will not be more oppressive on one portion of our country 
than another, and it will have the effect to produce complaints 
and excite dissatisfaction against the government ; but if we will 
leave all subjects in which the people are directly interested to 
the States, then we may expand so as to include the whole 
world. Mexico, Central America, South America, Cuba, the 
"West India Islands, and even England and France might an- 
nex without inconvenience or prejudice, allowing them with 
their local legislatures to regulate their local affairs in their 
own way. And this, sir, is the mission of this Republic and 
its ultimate destiny. 

• Cuba is nearer to us than California, and is not more dissimi- 
lar in interests and pursuits — Central America than Utah, and 
England than Oregon ; and yet, the Federal Government, di- 
recting her action to the legitimate subjects of her power, 
moves on with the harmony of the planetary world, attracted 
and repelled by opposite forces. Cuba is necessary to our 
commercial convenience, and is a means of national defence, 
and being thus demanded by great commercial and national 
considerations, who can withhold his support of a measure that 
looks to its early acquisition ? The fruit is now ripe ; shall we 
gather it, or shall we permit it to remain on the stem, until 
it decays, under the delusive hope, that it may fall into our 
lap without a struggle? No ; I propose we shall take it now, 
take it in its perfection, redolent with the rich odors of its 
budding flowers, and tropical fruits and productions, girt with 
her spreading waters and covered with her genial climes. 

Expansion is our mission, and we must advance. Civiliza- 
tion and religion impel us on, and, in despite of sordid con- 
siderations, we must and will go on. They are the genius of 
our country, and will not rest until they have thrown their 
thousand blessings over this great continent, like the bow of 
promise with its variegated splendors. And I shout it on. 
Gentlemen, you cannot prevent it. The North, enervated by 
the vices of luxury and love of wealth, may hang upon us like 
an incubus for awhile, but we will break from her thraldom 
ere long, and by the vigorous spirit of our pioneer people, 
yet uncorrupted by cities and towns, we will advance our 
eagles until the tread of our columns shall be heard upon this 
whole continent, and the shadow of their wings shall be seen 
in all its parts. 



13 

Who shall arrest us ? The feeble and prostrate republics 
which now lie in anarchy before us, have not the physical or 
moral power to stay the wave as it rolls on. They have no 
desire to do it. We intend only to revivify these fallen re- 
publics, and restore them to respectability and position amidst 
the nations of the earth. With swelling hearts and suppressed 
impatience they await our coming, and with joyous shouts of 
welcome, welcome, will they receive us. 

Who then will? Not England, in my opinion. Her highest 
interest forbid. Considerations of national and commercial 
policy forbids. She knows well the profound jealousy and 
deep prejudice which exist upon the continent of Europe for 
her, and how that old world would rejoice at her downfall. 
Her people understand well that should a combination for her 
overthrow be formed upon the continent, the sympathies of 
the people of this country would supply her with material 
aid, both in men and money. England looks to the perpetu- 
ation of her nation through all time ; and, like a skillful sailor 
at sea, she moves on by her charts and maps, and takes no 
departure from her fixed course without due consideration. 
She understands properly the intimate, social, political, and 
commercial relations existing between the two governments, 
and that nothing but disaster and ruin could result from a 
war between us. She will have with us no war as long as 
we permit her national honor to remain untouched and un- 
tarnished. She knows the extent of our military prowess 
and naval resources, and that, although we might occasion- 
ally be vanquished u|)on a battle-field, we would drench this 
continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in human gore be- 
fore we would submit to conquest ; and that during this pro- 
tracted war all the material elements of her present greatness 
and grandeur would be extinguished, and she be driven to 
the necessity of assuming a position of inferiority among the 
states of Europe. If any one supposes she is or will be in- 
fluenced by France in her policy on this continent, they are 
mistaken. She understands "France, and especially Louis 
Napoleon, and will hold him in the Tetters of diplomacy until 
he exhausts himself and country, and then the sword will 
sever their relations. They had rather hold him by the bit 
until he exhausts himself, than to fight him now, because war 
is his hope for the perpetuation of his dynasty, and England 
desires that it shall fall, as does all Europe. England is keep- 
ing her troops to'defend her own possessions, while she con- 
sumes the accumulating armies of France jn her foreign strug- 
gle ; and she will keep France engaged in petty quarrels and 
wars to prevent her armies overthrowing their own govern- 
ment, or making war with her, to vindicate their pride, so 



often stung by defeats and conquests at her hands. But she 
will always be by the side of Napoleon, to control his impet- 
uosity and restrain his rashness, and will be certain to prevent 
any severe or fierce war. "Would France interfere against us 
in a just war with Spain, although it might result in the ac- 
quisition of the Island of Cuba ? She would have no right 
to do it, and would not, unless she has determined to play the 
part of bully for all the nations of the earth. But, sir, if she 
were to interfere in this quarrel, it would be a conclusive 
argument in support of my position, that the ownership 
of the Island is necessaiy to our national preservation. It 
would show that France fully appreciates the argument I 
have made to show how injurious it would become in the 
hands of an enemy. It would show, further, that France has 
designs upon this continent, at least so far as to acquire the 
whole of the West India Islands, making Cuba the seat of 
empire. If this be true, it is conclusive we will never get it 
only by war. We cannot with propriety obtain it in that way 
without cause. That cause we now have, as I have attempted 
and have shown ; therefore, I think this is the time for action. 
But suppose it were to result in war with Spain and France 
combined. What difference would it make ? It would not be 
protracted. Neither France nor Spain could continue it long. 
At sea they are impotent, and especially France. It is not 
the number of ships, or their size, that guarantees victory at 
sea; it requires cold, steady, continuous gallantry, which the 
French have not. That nation has never gained laurels in 
naval warfare, and never will. England has, in times of war, 
always driven ihem from every sea, and always will. The 
French navy is large, but we have nothing to fear from it. 
There would not be a vestige of it in a short time, and the 
troops sent here would be left without the means to return 
to their native country. 

Mr. Chairman, I repeat that France would not interfere for 
reasons of necessity growing out of her European policy. 
Look at the dark cloud now gathering over the Italian states, 
and see the angry passion of an oppressed people as it flashes 
along its black surface like lurid lightning, and hear the 
wild cry of "vive Italia' 1 '' as it sweeps over Germany, and 
by France re-echoed in tones of encouragement. Do you ap- 
prehend it ? It is the dawning of a mighty revolution in that 
ancient country which will drench Europe in blood. In this 
.struggle France must and will be so deeply implicated that 
her armies will be required, and will be consumed. But, sir, 
I shall pursue this line of argument no further. It is un- 
worthy an American statesman to hesitate in the enforcement 
of our rights, because France, or England, or any other nation 



15 

may complain. I am for doing whatever our rights as a na- 
tion requires at our hands, and doing it as if we were the only 
nation on earth. We have said, and still say, no European 
nation shall interfere with affairs upon this continent ; and yet, 
by our conduct, we acknowledge we are afraid to manage 
our own affairs independently, lest England or France may 
complain. It is a reflection upon our honor, and an evi- 
dence of our decline in virtue and manliness. I am disgusted 
when I see this exhibition of alarm and apprehension for even 
a necessary war. It should be remembered that our greatness 
and glory, have been achieved by arms. It has its horrors,- 1 
know, and should be avoided if possible, but it has its advant- 
ages. A nation which is ready and prompt in the vindica- 
tion of her honor and her rights, commands the respect of 
others, and is never assailed, insulted, or trifled with. Who 
would dare insult the honor of France? The indignities 
which England and Spain have offered to our flag in the last 
few years, if offered to France, would have been punished 
without delay, and in a manner the most terrible. And yet 
we sit here with our escutcheon blackened with insult, amidst 
the cries for justice from our injured citizens, and utter emp- 
ty threats, which we have not the soul to execute — and there- 
by invite aggression from abroad. Thus we exhibit to the 
world the fatal truth, that the greatness of soul which ani- 
mated our ancestors has perished, and we have become a na- 
tion demoralized and contemptible. 



